User:Cpleonard/sandbox

COLLIN LEONARD Early Years: Collin was born July 20, 1996 in Colorado Springs, CO. He was the second born of four brothers: Shane, Collin, Ryan, and Brendan. Until Kindergarten, he lived in Palmer Lake, Colorado, enjoying fishing, hiking and camping with his family. Faith and William ‘Bill’ Leonard moved their four sons to Colorado Springs for better educational opportunities and have lived there since 2001. Collin was raised in a Christian household, going to church every Sunday and forging strong relationships with peers and mentors that have continued to benefit him in later life.

Education: He started at Rockrimmon Elementary school, where he became active in the community. Collin participated in youth sports from basketball, to soccer and baseball. He then decided to focus his energy on music after seeing his older brother playing in the middle school band; his goal to eventually play the crash cymbals in ‘The Star Spangled Banner’. Being a part of the talented and gifted program there lit a fire of curiosity in the young boy’s mind, and he began reading voraciously. With good friends, he planned a talent show that fundraised $1000 dollars to the ONE campaign. Unfortunately this charity was hit with a lawsuit years later for fraud. Collin attended Mountain Ridge for Middle school where nothing significant happened and he wished for this awkward period of his life to pass him quickly and mercifully. In high school Collin was involved in the International Baccalaureate program, volunteering, business clubs, band, music lessons, and challenging coursework. He believed if he could only get into a good college his work would pay off and he could relax. One of the coolest things he has ever made was an acoustic levitator. It uses high frequency sound waves to create pockets of high and low density air in standing waves. He was able to float droplets of alcohol in midair with this apparatus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Se-lvRBO-M Currently he attends Duke University, where he realized he could not relax. He works hard, doing the best he can to juggle jobs, friends, school, and activities. He is primarily involved with Cru, a Christian campus ministry, but seizes every opportunity to do things that interest him. Just recently, he rebuilt a car engine, 3D printed parts for the bike restoration project he is working on, and has camped out overnight for basketball tickets. He has taken advantage of free programs at Duke to spend a summer 3d printing prosthetics in Ecuador, as well as designing a dressing device for a bilateral amputee patient. In the same summer he summited a 20,000 foot volcano, rappelled down Amazonian waterfalls, and solo backpacked to El Altar. Through his campus ministry he spent weeks in East Asia telling people about the good news of Jesus, and making friends with university students.

Formative Experiences: One of the first really tough experiences Collin had to face was in the 8th grade, when his brother got cancer. His family spent the summer working through radiation treatment in Houston, living in a tiny hotel room, and growing very close. Through this experience he saw God working in dire situations. During this period, Collin dislocated his kneecap for the second time, and had to do physical therapy in that tiny room in Houston. The first semester of college was more difficult than expected. Collin realized he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, and was struggling to keep up with his classmates academically, though not for lack of effort. During this semester, his grandmother was dying of pancreatic cancer, and that was a very difficult batter as they were close. Right after thanksgiving, Judith Benton passed away to cancer, and a month later Collins grandfather, John Leonard, died suddenly. It took a long time to learn to live with the losses of that month. The following semester, Collin dislocated one of his kneecaps playing pick up basketball, the fourth injury of this kind. After much discussion, Collin got surgery in August and December of the following year, one on each knee. The majority of that school year was spent on crutches. You should have seen how toned his arms were by May. Unfortunately, the surgeon made a mistake on both surgeries, mounting the ligaments on the wrong parts of Collin’s femurs, forcing him to get both redone. It is now Collin’s junior year of college, he has had three knee surgeries, and is scheduled for one more. Working with amputees in Ecuador really put his injuries in perspective, and he remains incredibly thankful for the gift of access to medicine and the wealth of a first world country.

Future goals/plans: While Collin still does not know what he wants to do for a career, he is slowly learning what activities he enjoys. This summer, after a knee surgery, he hope to get an internship working for a vertical farm or a bike company. He is passionate about finding better ways of producing food using fewer resources, because the world is only going to get hungrier as populations increase. Some of his life goals are: Become fluent in Spanish, learn carpentry, make a music album, build an original vehicle, start a business, go to seminary, own a garden, and meet the fitness requirements of a Navy Seal.